The Hidden Glasgow Forums

... très bon wee man
-F-

Mosaic/Mural got loads of this


-Fossil-

Lane behind Hillhead Library

These are some photo's of Alasdair Gray's now hidden mural(s)
which were painted on the walls of the Scotland - Russia Society (Formerly Scotland - USSR Society)
in Belmont Crescent, Glasgow.

They were painted in 1957 as his graduation project.

They were covered up with wallpaper by the developer /
new owner of the premises following the Scotland - Russia Society
vacating Belmont Crescent in 2003. Can you get any more hidden
than that.

They covered the entire wall surfaces of the rear half of the
main ground floor lecture room.

thats an absolute disgrace.

My Kitten wrote:thats an absolute disgrace.

What the murals? I thought so as well.

I am involved with the Scotland - Russia Society, before we moved i always wanted to cover the bloody things with two coats of magnolia.

Only joking, i know what you mean, but we had to sell Belmont Crescent as there was no cash to keep the place going.

So we sold the building on the condition that the mural was covered in a protective covering before being wall papered. On no account was the mural to be painted over before this process was carried out.

Better to sell the place and survive. With the money raised we are opening a new Cultural / Arts facility. This is a better option than going bust and then some developer buying the building at auction with the option of destroying the mural.

I could not honestly see someone buying the building to live in with the murals showing. Although they are stunning, they would be hard to live with.

Socceroo wrote:Better to sell the place and survive. With the money raised we are opening a new Cultural / Arts facility. This is a better option than going bust and then some developer buying the building at auction with the option of destroying the mural.

Would the arts facility include the performance of muisc both live and recorded accompanied by late night drink. Please keep us informed of progress.

Dexter St. Clair wrote:Would the arts facility include the performance of muisc both live and recorded accompanied by late night drink. Please keep us informed of progress.

Yes it shall. We have even managed to get past the first few hurdles with Glasgow City Council, despite their best endeavours to trip up a sixty year old city based Cultural Society.

I will certainly keep you posted.

gap74 wrote:

Those stripes were really naff They should have did a proper mural with some thought behind it.

Found this hiding away at the back of Parkhead Cross:

KonstantinL wrote:Of course there's the mural at Hyndland Station too. I think it was done by local schoolkids.

I'll take a picture of it next time I'm over.

I painted part of that when I was at Hyndland.


There's one that looks like a giant game of Q-Bert at St. George's Cross, on the side of a high rise

Here is some more photos of Alasdair Gray's Mural which
was painted in the Scotland - USSR Society in Belmont Crescent
in the mid 1950's



The Mural caused quite a stir at the time when it was revealed with letters to the press.



I think for a fairly conservative 1950's Glasgow it was way ahead of its time.

Socceroo, you should have seen my old avatars, a bit like yours

Socceroo wrote:I think for a fairly conservative 1950's Glasgow it was way ahead of its time.

I imagine he'd have been carted off to the gulag if he'd insisted on painting like that in the Soviet Union in 1950, rather than in "conservative" Glasgow.

Guff like this was what "the people" demanded instead.


Grey's painting in a more "Mexican" style (via German expressionism), rather than Russian.

I forgot all about the Alasdair Gray stuff that i posted last year.

I found last week the various letters and press clippings from the time that the Mural was painted. All sorts going on

- accusations by the Council that the Scotland - USSR Society was assisting the Soviet's.

- the Councils refusal to attend the opening of the Mural.

- Glasgow School of Art almost disowning Gray.

Changed days?